The Last Flight
by Adalyn333
Summary: My version of Nevermore. Angel is able to send two last thoughts, before she boards a plane to Australia. Max and Fang each receive one, unbeknownst to each other of course. Will they meet when they try to rescue the youngest flock member? Will Max be able to save the world in time or will she have to make a sacrifice?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Yay, my first fanfic! I am writing this storey as my version of Nevermore so if you haven't read Angel this will make absolutely no sense to you at all. Since I personally don't click on fanfics unless they're at least 10 or 15 chapters long I wrote the first 14 chapters before I am even publishing this. So expect quick updates! I am trying to make this as much like a Maximum Ride novel as possible so that is why I will have lots of short chapters as well as pov/ third/ first person switches. **  
**Disclaimer: Kindly refrain from suing me Mr. Patterson as I own NOTHING!**

Prologue 

Angel felt herself wake up and struggled to look around, there was nothing around but black. She struggled to awaken her senses but as far as she could tell she was completely awake. All around was ... wetness? She thought back to max's description of the isolation tank back when Maya had impersonated Max. This felt the same as her dark thoughts that had come up when she talked about it. She cast her mind outside of the tank to see if there was anyone near her sardine can. Where are we taking subject 11? ... Australia? Wait look at it's stats, subject 11 is awake! Gas the tank. Set up mind blocks! ... and silence. Max, they are taking me to Australia, come quick! I'm scared Max. Angel sent her thought as far as she could and hoped it would get to Max before it was too late. She struggled against the gas that was filling her lungs and air sacs. Fang, they are taking me to Australia, hel... Angel drifted into unconsciousness.

**A/N I think my notes are longer than the actual prologue, OH WELL**


	2. Chapter one

***A/N If you see any spelling/grammar mistakes PLEASE tell me! I am trying my best but I am no good at that stuff :/ **  
**Disclaimer: disclaimer is a pretty self-explanatory word***

Chapter 1

I woke up on a plane, immediately my senses flared and I prepared to kick, punch, bite etc. Lets just say planes and me don't mix. I mean a birdkid, on a plane, it's just redundant. I opened my eyes preparing to open a can of kick-butt on who ever put me in this unnatural tin can. Ha me talking about unnatural! I looked around and saw Nudge sleeping silently on my left. To my right Iggy was reading, although he is blind, I wondered how that was working out for him. Gazzy was on Ig's right, making plans on how to build their next bomb. I looked up and there was Dylan, standing right over me with an easy smile spread across his admittedly gorgeous features.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH" I screamed I mean WTH I was just minding my own business and Dylan just has to scare me and nobody scares me, no one except F- NO ONE scares me! So I mean he was just asking for it. Yah I punched him, probably not the best move though since the stewardess walked by with our drinks just then. Her stunned face made me realize that decking passengers probably wasn't allowed, but what were they going to do, kick me off the plane, we were 3000 feet in the air. _I_ wouldn't care but they didn't know that I would just unfurl my 14 feet of wings and fly to the airport myself. But I figured it was more trouble than it was worth, whatever they were going to do to me. So I hissed:

"Repeat after me if you want to see daylight ever again," Dylan nodded at me one corner of his mouth curving up. "_So how do you do that again_?"

"So how do you do that again?"

'_You just look like you're going to punch me and then you hit your hand instead, right?_'

"You just look like you're going to punch me and then you hit your hand instead, right_?_"

"Right, then you pretend to flinch, got it?" I said trying to sound as non-I-want-to-punch-your-perfect-little-face-to-pulp-y as possible even though I totally did. (Want to punch his face- again) The stewardess gave us an odd look but continued to pass out drinks. I sighed internally, another disaster averted. I glared at Dylan and luckily I think he got my point since he walked over to his seat on the left of Nudge.

Once he had seated himself Dylan drifted off to sleep and I felt my adrenaline rush subside until I remembered we were in a PLANE! Suddenly I remembered, we had been booking a flight home to the good ol' U.S.A. when I had heard a voice in my head saying: _Max, they are taking me to Australia, come quick! I'm scared Max. _If you are up to date on the adventures of Max and her friendly mutant cohorts you are probably aware that I have "Voice" in my head that occasionally imparts tidbits of information, and if you aren't then why the heck are you reading this? Well this "Voice" of mine sounds monotone, almost machine like, not feminine yet not masculine. This thought was not robotic at all, in fact it sounded like a terrified 7 year old bird-girl.

_Angel._

It was a no-brainer that I immediately changed our flight from New York to Sydney. We would find Angel, no matter what. You have probably heard of my No Bird Kid Left Behind policy and that totally applied here. I gulped thinking of Ella and her last message scrawled in the dirt of a canyon. _I was meant to have wings ~Ella. _I knew she had gone to the labs, I knew she could die but I had thought Angel was dead, now was our chance to save her and I was going to take it.

Finally my heart beat slowed to its regular pace and I was about to take a well deserved nap when my thought went to Total, Angel's talking, flying dog. Long story. Since we didn't have Angel anymore he wouldn't have been able to fly with us so ... where was he? Iggy heard me wake up and turned towards me.

"What's wrong Max?" he asked in a very non-sarcastic, non-Iggy way.

"Where's Total?" I practically shrieked.

Iggy smiled "Since he's not allowed on the plane with us we had to arrange for him to go home to Akila with all the other animals" I almost burst out laughing at the thought of high class Total being stuck with the non-mutant animals, in a kennel! He must be seething! Ha! I was calming down now, I knew my flock was safe, well for us anyways. I felt my eyelids droop and was soon fast asleep.

***A/N Um I got nothing to say …*******


	3. Chapter two

**A/N: Disclaimer: **the act of disclaiming; the renouncing, repudiating, or denying of a claim; disavowal. I now officially disclaim Maximum ride and all that that entails.  
**Now let's get this chapter started shall we**

Chapter 2

I woke up and my stomach rumbled. I sleepily thought back to my dream of waffles and chocolate. I was famished, I could even smell food. My eyes opened and I looked down to see a tray of airplane food. YUM! (please note the sarcasm) Without Angel we hadn't been given our usual three first class meals at a time as per usual but food was food so we all inhaled our trays of cold meat and stale bread with a side of sour apple juice.

"Hey guys, eyes on me" I said and soon heard some indiscreet coughing coming from Iggy's general area.

"Ok, eyes and/or ears on me," I said in my most leader-y voice "so you probably are wondering why we are flying to the down under, well when we were at the Paris airport I uh ... well I heard a voice in my head"

"Yes we are all aware of your oh so helpful voice" Iggy interrupted me snidely.

"No, not _The_ Voice, _a_ voice, I uh, I think it was Angel."

"Wha! And you didn't tell us until now? Well what did she say?" I was interrupted yet again by the Gasman this time. I was somewhat shocked, those were practically the first words Gazzy had said since the bomb had gone off in Paris. I huffed in exasperation and continued.

"She said" I strained to remember "_Max, they are taking me to Australia, come quick! I'm scared Max_, and so here we are" The Flock plus Dylan was digesting this when Nudge began to think about Australia, and whatever Nudge thinks, Nudge says.

"Woah, I can't believe we are going to Australia, that's awesome about Angel. I hope we get to go to the beach, and the coral reefs and see fish. Maybe there are fish-human hybrids out there, like the Krelp remember, well maybe they look like mermaids! It would be so cool to meet a school of mermaids. I hope we have Angel back by then she would like to see the mermaids... "

I was finally able to tune out the Nudge channel and think about our mission. _How were we going to find Angel? How would we stop the Doomsday Group? Where were their head quarters? Did they even have any? Where was Ella? What were they doing to her? W- _ Just as I was beginning to panic about the enormity of our situation I was interrupted, AGAIN!

_Hello Max._

_Hi Voice, have I ever mentioned how much I hate being interrupted? _I thought back snidely (can you think snidely?)

_No I don't think you have but I have more important news than your childish pet peeves._

_I AM a freaking child! ... Spit it out ,what is this important news you feel the need to interrupt me with?_

_Angel is being taken to Australia-_

_DUH! I got the memo, that's kind of why we are on a plane to Sydney, AUSTRALIA!_

_Have you ever considered that you are being hypocritical, interrupting me? They are taking Angel to Australia, she will probably be kept with either Beth or the One Light. Find them and you have found Angel, but be quick these tests will be harsher than what she faced at the school, they consider any one disposable - even Angel._

I huffed internally, The Voice had just confirmed my fears, Angel wasn't needed alive, neither were we.

**A/N: I like writing what Nudge says, I basically just type whatever I think and it all comes out as a garbled mess aka The Nudge Channel.**


	4. Chapter three

**A/N: In the last disclaimer I said I Know officially ... yah that's supposed to be now.**  
**disclaimer: I am not like 70 years old and balding and a man., therefore I am not James Patterson who is Mride's owner (for now Mwahahaha :). ) Without any further ado, CHAPTER THREE**

Chapter 3

Every leader needs a plan so I needed one - bad. Luckily The Voice had actually been helpful, for once. I was going to get the Flock plus Dylan's attention once I saw the Indian Ocean disappear and Australia beneath us, but Nudge beat me to it.

"Oh look, I can see Australia!" she squealed.

"Yeah, me too!" Iggy said, mocking Nudge's over excited tone.

I just rolled my eyes and said,

"Okay, so when we touch down in Sydney I say we find a computer and have Nudge find us the next big DG rally, I think Angel will be there too". I heard varying levels of excitement but eventually got an ok from everyone.

When we got off the plane my cell phone we had stolen from a fallen gen. 77 kid back in Paris rang. I checked the caller ID, not Fang, I answered.

"Hola, Maxalater, Maxy, Maxness, what's shaken?" I heard Total through the phone.

I sighed. "Hello Total".

"Where are you guys, did you know they serve DOG FOOD to the dogs in animal care!"

I choose to ignore the last part about dog food - I mean they are DOGS after all, and answered his first question, "We are in Sydney, Australia -"

I was cut off by Total who yelped, "You went to the home of the Sydney Opera without me!"

Arg, the next person who interrupted me was going to be one sorry pile of ashes. I gritted my teeth and continued,

"-to find Angel". ... I heard silence from the other end and then a faint "... 'kay.." then *click*. I wished my news had done that to Nudge.

I heard the intercom buzz.

"_This is your Captain speaking, we are now beginning our descent into Sydney, please fasten your seatbelts_".

**A/N They get longer, I swear!**


	5. Chapter four

**A/N:ARG, do you know how hard it is to write from Fang's point of view? RRREEEAALLLYYY hard! I also suck at writing in third person. I like to write what I think and I do not think in the third person :( I now have a new respect for authors who write whole novels in the third person. Disclaimer: Max Ride= James Patterson The last flight plot = mine, see the difference? Well on with the story dahlings *air kisses* **  
Chapter 4

Fang sat in the french pastrie that Max and the Flock plus Dylan had scoped out only days ago. He thought back to the explosion, the wave of heat that had washed over him and the feeling of helplessness when he had discovered Angel dead.

_Fang, they are taking me to Australia, hel..._

Fang just sat there eyes wide, a stunned expression stuck on his usually impassive face.

"Uh, Mr. Rock, why are you sitting there like fish out of water?" Maya asked. Fang felt a knot in his stomach, Mr. Rock was what Max had called him back in the E shaped house and he was being unemotional for a longer period of time than usual.

"Pack up gang, we're going to the down under", Fang still wasn't as good as Max in the whole leader department but the gang still nodded, and got up to go to the Paris airport. Fang thought about how long customs and security and boarding and... taking a plane would take too long.

Fang turned around in his seat of the bus they had taken.

"Maya and I are going to fly to Australia, everyone else is going to take the fastest plane to..." what was in Australia? He thought hard but all he could remotely remember was an address, P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Fang wondered if that meant anything, he would check out after he saved Angel. "... Sydney, you guys fly to Sydney, we can all meet up there. Maya and I will fly fly ahead to scout around and try to find the place I am looking for."

Everyone agreed quickly. Fang remembered how everyone in the flock would give Max heck whenever she told them to do something. Even though he enjoyed how obedient they were he still missed the flock. He sighed internally and rang the bell on the bus that alerted the driver a passenger wanted to get off. Soon the bus slowed to a stop and Fang and Maya jumped off. Fang stared at the faint trail of dust that followed the bus until it drove over a hill and out of sight. Fang glanced at Maya and they simultaneously took off into the brisk Paris air.

**A/N: *I meant to say this last time but I forgot. THANK YOU to ****Faxisthegreatest123****my first reviewer! You are awesome!***** **


	6. Chapter Five

**AH! More third person :( Ah well this chapter will have surprises *wiggles eyebrows suggestively* No fax yet though :( I under the pen name Adalyn333 solemnly swear THAT I AM UP TO NO GOOD, no jk, I solemnly swear that I have never, do not, but do have plans to own in the future :) the series Maximum Ride by James Patterson, **_**THE END.**_  
**Weeeell now that that is out of the way here it is : Chapter 5! **

Chapter 5

_Flashback_  
_I was flying, tears streaming down my face as I flew away from the house, away from Maximum, away from the flock and all I had left was a freaking note! They would hate me but that was for the better, I might die but the Flock would be safe. They were safe, Max was safe, if her heart was anywhere near as broken as mine she would probably curl up on top of a tree and bawl her eyes out for a week, I knew that's what I felt like doing. But hearts mend, being dead doesn't. I have to get as far away from them as possible I thought. It was probably a few minutes before I realised that the tears running down my face was accompanied by sweat, I was boiling hot. I kept flying, I was used to hiding these heat spells I had been having ever since the hospital in washington when I had Max's blood transfused into my veins. _

_All of the sudden I was flying at warp speed, my hair whipped behind my face and my jet-black wings barely moved as I speed away at 200 miles per hour easy. Max's DNA must have given me her ability. I took advantage of my new mutation and poured on the speed. Soon I was soaring away, a ticking time bomb, at 300 miles per hour. I looked down at the piece of paper I had scribbled on._

_First up: Ratchet._

Soon Maya and Fang were soaring south, their internal compasses leading the way.

"Uh, Maya..." Fang asked.

"Yeah, what's up?" Maya raised an eyebrow, it wasn't like Fang to start a conversation.

"Um, you know how I can disappear, Angel can read minds..."

"Yes" she answered cutting him off, to late Fang remembered how her whole mission had failed when Angel read her mind back in Virginia.

"Well I was wondering if you have Max's ... ability?" Fang muttered, he knew how touchy Maya was about the whole clone thing.

"If you mean hyper-drive then yes, but that won't be much help since you kinda can't and you are the only one who know what the heck is going on."

Fang bit his lip, he hadn't told anyone this, ever, but it felt right to tell her. He told Max everything, this was as close as he was gonna get. Max wouldn't forgive him any time soon and now seemed like a convenient time to use his... Max's speed

"Back in D.C. Max's blood was transfused into my blood when I lost a bunch and her DNA kind of mutated mine, I can fly... fast too." Fang felt his cheeks flush, but he hardened his face making it devoid of any emotion.

"Well then, onward!" Maya said in a terrible british accent. Fang knew she was trying to cheer him up but all he could manage was a weak smile as they picked up speed.

**Well at least I squeezed some first person in! To all you Mylan supporters out there, I would love to hear your reasons for supporting Dylan. (Max and Dylan)**


	7. Chapter Six

**YAH! Back to first person :) Right now I am supposed to be researching the 60's for L.A. class. Avoiding work! ME NO OWN MAX RIDE! on with the adventures of Max and her merry mutants!**

Chapter 6

When our plane touched down in the Sydney airport we all unloaded and got our butts out of there. Being raised at the school we all hate security cameras and security people, which airports have, in abundance.

Soon we located a public library in downtown Sydney. As I signed up I smiled, Ella Martinez has library accounts across the globe. My smile soon soured as I thought of what they could be doing to Ella. I shuddered. Dylan turned to face me, concern clouding his turquoise eyes.

"What's wrong Max?" Dylan's face was like a large print book, so so easy to read. He actually seemed to care though so I supposed I could answer truthfully.

"I was thinking about Ella, I wonder what they are going to do to her," I said, that was probably the most open I had been with him.

"Don't worry, we'll get her ba-" Dylan was interrupted by Nudge who said.

"Here is where they are holding their next rally" Nudge pointed to the computer screen where she had pulled up google maps, "It says that Beth, the zombie mother, is going to be there. _When the one light comes to our very special rally we will showcase our newest upgrades. We will have the honor of revealing generation 78! With love, The Doomsday Group" _Nudge said the last part in her best cheery zombie voice, which I have to admit is pretty good. She even nailed the glassy doll eyes. But I knew she was joking because right when she finished she stuck out her tongue, rolled back her eyes, stretched her arms out in front of her and moaned as she shuffled towards Iggy. He heard her coming and got into a fighting stance. They started to wrestle, it looked like Nudge was going to lose until Gazzy cackled maniacally and leapt into the brawl to help her. The fight ended when Gazzy sat on Iggy's head threatening to unleash his... I refuse to call it a gift, his weapon I guess. Nudge had Iggy's arms and legs securely bound and was laughing her head off as Iggy pleaded for mercy.

I smiled, it felt like old times, back in the E shaped house, except we were in Australia, and F-Angel was gone, and Dyla... you get my point. Well at least Gaz was back to normal- for him at least, I had been really worried. I'm no mind reader but I think he blamed himself for Angel dying.

I looked at the computer monitor, the address was Sydney CBD New South Wales 2000, Australia, the rally was being held in a place called Hyde Park. Near the park was a train station.

"Ok guys, pack up, your little fight is attracting too much attention. I say we go to Hyde Park today and scope the place out so we are ready for the rally tomorrow." For once the Flock plus Dylan responded positively. I was pretty sure they were just afraid of the librarian, who I have to admit I think the white coats might have added some vulture DNA into her, she looked pretty scary perched at her desk.

**A/N: *****Hello? Does anyone actually read this? *******


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N Back to Fang and Maya! **  
**Disclaimer: Dear Lawyers, I don't own Maximum Ride, ~Adalyn333 **  
**TO THE CHAPTER!**

Chapter 7

Fang landed lightly on his toes, his night black wings swooping down and gracefully folding along his spine. Maya landed quietly behind him, he looked at her, she was his friend, probably his closest since he left the flock. But she wasn't ... Max.

It felt weird to go against the giant without Max but he had to save Angel and this seemed like the only way, it would take too long for the flock to get here and help. They were probably in New York by now. Iggy had used the flock phone and texted him last night to tell him they were getting on a plane to the big apple.

The pair scoped out hiding spots, short cuts, etc. As Fang neared the end of Hyde Park he saw something kind of unusual for 3AM, he squinted at the girl across the field. She had dark mocha coloured skin, she looked about 13 and her brown curly hair was all over the place. She appeared to be talking non-stop into a cell phone. Was it ... Nudge? No, probably just wishful ... hallucinating. Yes that was it, Fang was just sleep-deprived, it was probably just some random girl in a park... at three AM. But just in case Fang took out his sleek black cell phone and texted Iggy: _How's New York?_

After another 15 minutes of mind numbing waiting and watching, Fang and Maya headed over to a nearby hotel.

"The Saint James hotel?" Maya asked.

"Yah, I don't care how much money we have to spend, I'm exhausted!" Fang said sleepily, his eyelids closing as he muttered 'Get rooms for the rest of the gang too'.

"Three, two bed, rooms please,"

"Okay sweetie, here's your room keys, you"re on floor two rooms 234-23-"Fang didn't hear the rest, he had fallen asleep standing up.

**It's so short, sorry I don't know what else to say. I will put this one and ch. 8 at the same time to make up for this :/ I mean it's only **_**306**_** words! Other than the prologue i think it's my shortest so far! Did you know that Hyde Park and Sydney CBD New South Wales 2000 and** **the St. James hotel are all real places! That's google maps for yah! **


	9. Chapter Eight

**I think I'm going to make this one longer although JP would just make like three short chapters about it, I think you guys deserve a longer chapter :) **  
**Disclaimer: ME NO OWN! Comprendes vous? Hehe I suck at spelling. Thank goodness for auto-correct! **

Chapter 8

We had all caught up on our sleep that afternoon so everyone, ok not Nudge so much, was pretty alert. I had the flock plus Dylan come with me to Hyde park that night at 11pm.

Since we now had two cell phones I gave one to Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy. I took the other one with Dylan. As we walked away from my flock I realized I was on my own, in a dark, empty park with DYLAN! My cheeks flushed as I remembered our kiss on the Arc de Triomphe. We walked quickly around surveying for hiding spots, short cuts etc. I was careful to keep my distance, I wasn't looking for a relationship. Not after... last time.

As we neared the south side Dylan pulled me off the path and into a shadowy glade of trees. At first I was alert, checking for danger, but then I realized Dylan had other intentions. He wrapped his arms around my waist, turning my face towards his. I started to squirm but he held fast, I wasn't going anywhere. His hand lifted my chin up so I was looking into his beautiful, mesmerizing turquoise eyes and his soft lips that looked sexy and , wait did I just think that ... ok EWWWW! Oh crap, crap, crap, crapcrapcrapcrap he's going to kiss me! And there was nothing I could do to stop him. I just hoped he wouldn't use tongue. Just as Dylan's lips began to swoop down I felt a vibration in my pocket and heard "It's A Small World" start playing. I sighed in relief and took a BIG step back. I flipped the phone open, just before Nudge's motor mouth came out of the other end I saw the time, 2:45AM, well no wonder they were calling me, it was _late!_

"We've been walking around the park for _ages_ Max! But we did find a whole bunch of good shortcuts and couple hiding spots, we found this one OMG it was too funny, ok we were walking on this little trail through the trees and there was this teepee made of sticks, I think some random teenagers made, well we thought it would make a good hiding spot so we sent gazzy to see if we would all fit and there was homeless person inside! Gazzy jumped so high the look on his face was priceless! Ig heard some moving inside beforehand so we knew there was a hobo so I had the camera on the phone ready and got a picture! Other than that we didn't really see anyone, wait I see someone right now, there are two people, hey is that you and Dylan cause you can't scare us now, I see you! Well it looks like someone your age, two someones actually, and they are leaving so I guess its not you, anyways there's a guy and a girl, the girl's hair was pink and the guys was black so I guess it couldn't be you, can we go to a hotel now? Pleeeeaaaase! We're all pooped! The closest hotel is the St. James Hotel and we rea-" Nudge's voice was muffled and I heard a conversation in the background,

"Nudge give me the phone" I could barely hear Iggy arguing, Dylan was laughing so I assumed he was watching their fight with his super-enhanced vision.

"No Iggy, we agreed I would get the phone if I helped get Ella to kiss you when we got back to the states!" I heard Nudge gulp, she obviously wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that, I heard a few grunts and then Iggy's voice,

"Max, can we to a hotel now? I apologize for Nudge's behavior," I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing, Iggy was rarely this polite, I'm sure it had something to do with not wanting me to kick his butt for scheming with Nudge about kissing my little sister.

"Let's go to that St. James hotel Nudge was talking about, also no that wasn't Dylan and me, we are on the south end, we aren't even on a path. Also Iggy I think we need to have a little talk when I get back" I could hear a barely audible gulp from Iggy before he hung up.

~~~~~~~LiNe BrEaK~~~~~~~~

We arrived at the reception desk of the hotel at 3AM, the sign outside had said 24/7 service so we weren't surprised to see a tired looking receptionist sitting at the desk, a coffee cup clutched in her hand like a lifesaver in the ocean.

"Three, two bed, rooms please," I said to her and set the Maximum Ride credit card on the desk.

"Okay sweetie, how long for?"

"Um... one week please" I was glad she didn't press, most adults were way too nosy when we spent money like this.

"Here you go, you'll be on floor three and two, room 237 on floor two as well as 312 and 313 on floor three"

"Thank you" I hurried my flock to the elevator but I couldn't help looking back, I caught a glimpse of pink and blonde hair before the elevator doors closed, blocking my view.

~~~~~~~LiNe BrEaK~~~~~~~~

The next morning we woke with only 4 hours of sleep. We sluggishly ate our breakfasts and were soon off to Hyde Park, off the save Angel. While we were at the hotel's serving area I kept my eyes peeled for the pair that both Nudge and I had glimpsed, but had no luck.

We arrived at Hyde Park each with a cup of coffee in our hands, not my best idea to give Nudge caffeine, her motor mouth was going a mile a minute, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who looked longingly at a shop we passed which sold earplugs. It was only eight am and the rally didn't officially start until ten but the park was already filling with dg zombies as well as gen. 77 kids.

Our plan was to locate the oh so mysterious "One Light" and from there locate Angel, after that it was basically Plan Delta aka run like heck. We wandered around trying to find the center of the chaos, soon we found a large tent in the middle of a large clearing, there was a stage in front overlooking a field that was already filling up with zombies and mutants.

"We need to blend if we're going to find Angel " Gazzy pointed out, crap I hadn't thought of that, the DG would be expecting bird kids so if we whipped out our wings we'd be taken away asap.

"I have an idea" Nudge grinned and I followed her gaze to a costume shop across the street.

Two hour later Nudge had antennae and red skin with black polka-dots. Iggy and I had tails sticking out, mine was a lion, I think, Iggy's was some sort of reptile. Iggy had in contacts that made his eyes look yellow with oblong pupils. Gazzy's eyes were bulging and his green feet were webbed along with his hands. Dylan's face was covered in minute green scales, he had the same contacts as Iggy and long fangs that just barely fit in his mouth. Yes! I thought, he can't kiss me until Nudge takes this gunk off.

We each took turns walking innocently around the huge tent (**A/N: Tent is the 1234th word XD**)and then oh-so-quietly slipping inside. I came last, inside the tent was a maze of rooms and hallways. We looked in a few of them, they were mostly just makeshift labs. We looked in yet another room, when I slipped inside I gasped. There was Bridgid and... Omega? They were the facing away from me and hadn't seen me or the rest of the flock. I motioned for everyone to go in the opposite direction from Dr. Stupendous and SuperBoy. We crept around not seeing anyone else until we saw the stage from behind. Standing up there talking in her hypnotic voice casting its spell over the congregation was Beth aka The Zombie Mother.

"Today we are very blessed to have a very special visitor here to reveal Generation 78!" I gagged, her sugar sweet voice gave me a toothache. And the boobs were totally implants, just sayin'. "Here honoring us with their presence is THE ONE LIGHT!"

I looked over to the stairs leading up to the stage and gasped, walking up them was...

**CLIFFHANGER! XD So my friend ****TryNotToRunAway ****and me made a bet that I wouldn't talk about Maximum Ride at all tomorrow, which is going to be hard considering how obsessed I am with this series, I literally haven't gone a day since I first read it where I havn't talked about it. So... tomorrow I will either be 1$ richer or just plain sad. BIG SPENDER THERE ****TryNotToRunAway!**** So... yah... um ... thats my longest chapter ever...**  
**i think i might start writing them longer, it seems more satisfying... that sounded less weird in my head... GOODBYE! **

***OKAY THAT'S FOUR UPDATES IN ONE DAY! You guys should be proud of me! ***


	10. Chapter Nine

**WOAH IT'S CHAPTER NINE! Uh yah, I lost the bet :(. Well it doesn't really matter, ****TryNotToRunAway**** was stupid and didn't make so I had to give her something if I lost so whatever... yah. I don't have school today so I can write a lot!**

Chapter 9

Previously ...

"Here honoring us with their presence is THE ONE LIGHT!"

I looked over to the stairs leading up to the stage and gasped, walking up them was...

_LINEBREAK!_

... Anne Walker but that wasn't what surprised me, it wasn't that that two faced witch I thought I had left in Virginia was trying to kill off the population AGAIN! It was the two girls waiting near the stairs to go on to the stage. It was ... Angel and Nudge? I looked around confusedly, Nudge was right beside me looking at the stage, but there she was at the stairs. HUH?

I pointed herself out to Nudge and at first she look as lost as me but then her eyes dawned in realisation, she grinned up at me. This only got me even more confused than before.

"Baaaa baaaaa" Nudge whispered in my ear, I couldn't believe Nudge had figured it out before me. Those must be their clones from the German Itex headquarters! I pointed the two clones out to Gazzy and Iggy; Gaz explained what was going on to Iggy.

"Ok you guys, we need a code word, so the clones can't impersonate us again" I whispered so even I could just barely hear myself, "any suggestions?"

"How about ?**" **Gazzy suggested. I wasn't sure if he was serious or not so I was careful not to laugh, see I care about other people's feelings,

"Uh, no, too long and stupid" I'm like a princess.

"Hm," Iggy stroked his non-existent beard and raised one eyebrow "how's about we caw like a crow" Iggy then felt urged to demonstrate,

"Stop my ears are bleeding!" I hissed "How about _... birdseed_?" I smiled thinking of the time when we had been served birdseed in Miami. Soon the mini flock was laughing so hard tears were streaming down our cheeks, silently of course.

"It's" chortle of laughter "perfect!" more laughter, Nudge was barely able to get out two words and the boys nodded their approval, shaking with mute laughter. Dylan's look of confusion only made me laugh harder. After I was finally able to stop laughing I turned my attention to the stage where Anne was taking the microphone from Beth.

"I am so honored to see my faithful followers all here today!" a roar of applause interrupted her, when it quieted down she continued "Today I have the immense privilege to introduce to you, Generation 78!" She motioned the clones to walk up to the stage and my stomach fell. When Nudge and Angel 2 got up, three other kids walked up from inside the room the clones had been waiting in. I watched as Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang's clones went to stand beside Anne Walker.

Iggy must have heard the extra footsteps and he whispered, "Am I up there?"

"Everyone except Maya is" Gazzy answered. In our shock I had forgotten why they were there, until Anne motioned Angel 2 to the front of the stage and said,

"For gen 78 we decided to build on what we had already deemed successful and just enhance it, here we have a very successful group of gen 56 avian-human hybrids that we have upgraded. Right here is Angelica, she has a smaller wingspan, night vision, self-healing, 500 times the strength of an average seven year old, x-ray vision, super running speed and is able to jump up to 40 feet high, along with her previous abilities of course." Wow, how Anne got that all out in one breath was beyond me. But 'Angelica', she sounded indestructible, and there were still four more "enhanced" bird kids to go. I listened as she started listing off the rest of the clone flock's abilities and turned to remind everyone else why we were here.

To save Angel.

But we needed to know more about what the Doomsday Group had in store for the apocalypse.

"We need to split up, same groups as last night, Dylan and I will go look for Angel, you guys stay here and figure out what the DG is up to." I whispered this which such force no one dared to question me.

Dylan and I crept through the labyrinth of tent looking for something, anything that would help us to find Angel. I opened a door made of tarp and stepped into yet another lab like room, but this one was slightly different from the others. In the middle with cords plugging into it was an isolation tank like the one Itex had kept me in back in Florida. I knew somehow that Angel was in there.

I walked up to the tank looking for handles, anything that I could use to open it with but found nothing. I was about to get on my knees and search the ground around it when the seam where the tank open hissed open and steam poured out. I looked back at Dylan who was smirking from the control panel the cords were running from. Growling in frustration I looked down into the tank and sure enough I saw Angel floating in water, her blonde locks floating around her head like she was a mermaid. Her eyes were squeezed close and her hands were shielding her eyes from the sudden light after a week of not experiencing anything at all. I remembered how much it hurt when I had been taken out of my tank but nonetheless I reached in and scooped up Angel and carried her like a mother holding her newborn baby and rushed out the door.

**A/N: I saw this on some random Max ride fan thing and thought I would share it with you:**

**HEY I JUST MET YOU**  
**AND THIS IS CRAZY**  
**BUT I'M YOUR GENETICALLY MODIFIED PERFECT OTHER HALF**  
**SO CALL ME MAYBE!**

**Heartfelt huh, hits you right there, this would put even Max in tears... **


	11. Chapter Ten

**On to chapter 10! Double Digits! WOO HOO! I 3 Iggy, random! *In the last ch. I uploaded Gazzy suggests a secret word but the word isn't there, I tried uploading it again, but it still won't show up . The word is the really long word from mary poppins, there is a song about it. UM if you haven't guessed it I still can't post it, just ask a friend. I tried putting spaces between the letters but it still won't show up! * **  
**Disclaimer: I. DO. NOT. OWN. MAXIMUM. RIDE! **  
**If you can't tell **_**bold italic is Iggy **_**and **_normal italic is Fang, _  
**Weeeeeellllll here it is:**

Chapter 10

Iggy pov.

I listened as Max and Dylan went off to save Angel and fingered the cell phone Max had given to me after she got one from a mutant in Paris. I thought of the unanswered text notification that would pop up if I flipped it open.

_How's New York?_

Fang deserved to know about Angel but if Max had wanted Fang to know about this she would have let him know herself. _But _I had promised Fang I would keep him up to date with what was happening, just in case.

I flipped open the phone and hit the reply button.

_**Flight change, we're not in New York.**_

Almost immediately I got a response:

_Well then where are you?_

_**In Sydney.**_

_Sydney Australia? _

_**Yeah what other Sydney would I be in?**_

_idk, why are you in Sydney?_

_**Max changed our flight last minute.**_

_Why did she do that?_

This was the part I was unsure of, so I hesitated for a bit before I wrote:

_**Angel sent her a thought telling her she was being taken to Sydney. Where are you?**_

_SHE HEARD WHAT!_

_**A thought, geez Fang I thought you wouldn't be one to use cap locks.**_

_Stop changing the subject, and I can use cap locks just as much as the next person._

_**You're the one changing the subject, where are you!**_

_In Sydney_

Say what? That stalker!

_**WHAT! Are you stalking us or something?**_

_Well if you weren't such a birdbrain you would realize I didn't know where you guys were so I couldn't possibly be stalking you_

_**Oh... well I am part bird right, I'm bound to have a birdbrain sometimes XD, well anyways why are you in Sydney?**_

_Hardy har har , I heard a thought from Angel too so... here we are_

Why would Angel call Max AND Fang? Probably one of the little devil's schemes. Wow even in mortal peril she still manages to be a manipulative brat. But she was my manipulative brat. Wait, _we_?

_**We? Is the gang here too?**_

_No just Maya and me but they'll catch up soon._

Oh crap, Maya and Max... on the same continent? This wasn't gonna be pretty.

_**Oh boy, I'm gonna have a heck of a time telling this to Max**_

_LOL have fun with that birdboy_

_**I gonna get beat up aren't I**_

_Well if no one else has done anything recently to aggravate her you should come out without any scars._

I thought back to what Nudge had blurted out, and what Max had whispered so only I could hear  
"I think we need to have a little talk when I get back" Well this wasn't going to be fun.

_**Well, it's official, I'm dead**_

_Oh no what did you do this time?_

This was Fang, he was like my brother but still I wasn't going to tell him everything, only what was necessary, like the abridged version.

_**Um well I kinda was plotting with Nudge and Max overheard us.**_

_What were you plotting about?_

I should have known he would see right through me.

_**... do I have to say?**_

_YES!_

_**Fine**_

_so...?_

Maybe I could distract him.

_**Ella, where in Sydney are you?**_

_Oh wow you are dead, have fun! We're at the rally in hyde park._

_**Us too except we are inside the big white tent, listening to the inspirational speech from none other than The One Light, Anne Walker.**_

_Oh wow, that witch, we can't see the stage, we're trying to figure out how to get inside the tent._

_**Haha we just found a seam and slipped inside, oh crap here comes Max and Dylan with Angel but I think she's unconscious.**_

_What, uh we'll meet you guys on the south side of the tent, someone is gonna try to stop you and you'll need all the help you can get. Wait why was Max alone with Dylan?_

I left the last message unanswered and rushed to Max and Angel, I offered to carry her but Max wouldn't let Angel out of her grasp. She can be so much of a mama bear sometimes. We all rushed back into the maze of white tent tarp and back to the slit in the wall we had entered through.

**Do you guys follow Maximum Ride in facebook? I do, her posts are pretty funny but my favourite one so far would have to be:**

I've told you what I've been obsessed with lately. And you've made it clear what you've been obsessed with: why does everyone want to MURDER Dylan?

**I laughed soooo hard! I totally want to murder Dylan! You should see the comments, they were hilarious! If you are wondering how Iggy can text, it's pretty simple, he can just feel the screen and feels the change in colour where the words are, same thing with the keys. I know the screen is technically one colour with like projector things inside (i think) so he wouldn't really be able to feel, but the is **_**fiction**_**! He can feel colours that unto itself should make the texting thing possible.**


	12. Chapter eleven

**I always laugh when someone says "chappie" in their A/N (sorry if that was offensive, I didn't mean for it to be) So here is the eleventh chappie everyone! **  
**Maximum does not belong to me. **  
**What was Fang up to last night at the Saint James Hotel? NOT THAT YOU SICKOS! **

Chapter 11

Fang trudged through the hallway, towards room 236, the room Maya and him were staying in. As the Maya was unlocking the door, Fang noticed the girl from the park slip into the room next to his. _Huh?_ Fang thought _probably just me seeing what I want to, the flock is in New York, Iggy is going to text me tomorrow and tell me how delicious the salted peanuts are. _

Fang fell onto the nearest of the two beds and was out like a light before his mutated head hit the pillow.

"Rise and shine, Emo Boy!" Fang woke to Maya screaming in his ear.

"Five more minutes" Fang muttered, still half asleep.

"Nope, we have a seven year old mutant to rescue!"

Fang's eyes snapped open. Angel! He was out of bed in a flash.

Twenty minutes later Maya and Fang were entering the free breakfast room ready for some syrup drenched waffles. As Fang went back to the counter to grab another packet of whipped cream for his already sizable mountain of sugar, he glanced a boy walking out of the breakfast bar who looked remarkably like the Gasman, cowlick and all. _No, probably some random kid who just looks like gazzy, thats all, Gaz hasn't ever even been to Australia! Just some random kid, that was all, _Fang thought in desperation.

There was still an hour and a half until the rally started so the duo decided to walk around the tent that had been erected, probably at like 4 in the morning, it certainly hadn't been there last night. They walked around the perimeter, trying to figure out where to get in.

At last they found a seam in the white tarp but when Fang put his ear on it he could hear voices from inside. It continued like that for the next two hours, TWO HOURS! Angel could have died in two hours! But they continued their search, hoping for some luck.

Max would kill Fang if he failed to get Angel back, then bring him back to life (again) just so she could kill him again. Failure was NOT an option.

Just as Fang was about to admit defeat and call Max his phone buzzed and a new text notification popped up.

_**Flight change, we're not in New York.**_

What, not in New York? WHAT?

_Well then where are you?_

_**In Sydney.**_

Oh no. But just in case,

_Sydney Australia? _

_**Yeah what other Sydney would I be in?**_

_idk, why are you in Sydney?_

_**Max changed our flight last minute.**_

_Why did she do that?_

There was a longer pause than normal while Fang waited for a reply.

_**Angel sent her a thought telling her she was being taken to Sydney. Where are you?**_

Oh crap, Max is _here_!

_SHE HEARD WHAT!_

_**A thought, geez Fang I thought you wouldn't be one to use cap locks.**_

People also think Fang's emo, he's not.

_Stop changing the subject, and I can use cap locks just as much as the next person._

_**You're the one changing the subject, where are you!**_

He was so going to be murdered.

_In Sydney_

_**WHAT! Are you stalking us or something?**_

_Well if you weren't such a birdbrain you would realize I didn't know where you guys were so I couldn't possibly be stalking you_

_**Oh... well I am part bird right, I'm bound to have a birdbrain sometimes XD, well anyways why are you in Sydney?**_

Oh that kid, sooo funny. *sarcasm*

_Hardy har har , I heard a thought from Angel too so... here we are_

_**We? Is the gang here too?**_

_No just Maya and me but they'll catch up soon._

_**Oh boy, I'm gonna have a heck of a time telling this to Max**_

Ha, Fang was glad it wasn't going to have to be him.

_LOL have fun with that birdboy_

_**I gonna get beat up aren't I**_

_Well if no one else has done anything recently to aggravate her you should come out without any scars._

_**Well, it's official, I'm dead**_

Oh no, what did that idiot do this time? Fang thought.

_Oh no what did you do this time?_

_**Um well I kinda was plotting with Nudge and Max overheard us.**_

_What were you plotting about?_

He should have known Fang would see right through him.

_**... do I have to say?**_

Well, DUH!

_YES!_

_**Fine**_

_so...?_

_**Ella, where in Sydney are you?**_

Iggy's crush on Ella was well known, if you were observant. They would make a cute couple though. But still Ella was Max's little sister.

_Oh wow you are dead, have fun! We're at the rally in hyde park._

_**Us too except we are inside the big white tent, listening to the inspirational speech from none other than The One Light, Anne Walker.**_

What? The little-

_Oh wow, that witch, we can't see the stage, we're trying to figure out how to get inside the tent._

_**Haha we just found a seam and slipped inside, oh crap here comes Max and Dylan with Angel but I think she's unconscious.**_

Oh great, they're going to need all the help they can get, wait Max and Dylan?

_What, uh we'll meet you guys on the south side of the tent, someone is gonna try to stop you and you'll need all the help you can get. Wait why was Max alone with Dylan?_

After that there was no reply. Fang showed the conversion to Maya and they sped to the south end of the park.

When they finally reached the southernmost end they were there just in time to see the flock plus Dylan battling what appeared to be ... nothing? Just seconds after Fang arrived he saw Max fall, clutching her shoulder, her wings spreading out forcing her into a death spiral. He leaped into the air, spread his wings and flew up to Max, catching her, unconscious, in his arms.

**Cliffy! LOL those shortened words just crack me up! Because I am such a nerd I am listening to a Disney soundtrack.**

**Hakuna Matata**  
**what a wonderful phrase**  
**Hakuna Matata**  
**ain't no passing craze**  
**It means no worries, for the rest of your days**  
**Its our problem free, philosophy **  
**Hakuna Matata!**

**That is going to be stuck in my head all day now!**


	13. Chapter twelve

**THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT. Yeah I'm listening to the same soundtrack as last time.**  
**Disclaimer: I woke up this morning looking uncannily girl-like, fyi James Patterson is a guy, I know I'm the nerd, but you do the math. **  
**Oh and do you guys want me to put whose pov it is at the top?**

Chapter 12

Dylan and I rushed through hallway after hallway until we reached the backstage area. As we neared the flock, I saw Iggy put away the cell phone had entrusted to him. I wondered who he could have been texting, it sure wasn't me. The mini flock rushed towards us, Iggy offered to take Angel from me but I declined. She was my baby, I thought she was dead, I was NOT letting her out of my sight again. We rushed back into the tent again.

As we reached the hallway that led to the entrance, I heard a buzzing sound. I whipped my head around but saw nothing and kept on running. When we reached the glade of trees outside the tent we shot off into the sky. But we only reached about 5 feet above the trees before the buzzing intensified and I felt sharp pains all over my body.

I screamed, it felt like someone was piercing me with millions of push pins. But still I didn't let go of Angel. It felt like there was wasps crawling over my body, dragging their stingers through my skin. I looked down but I couldn't see a thing. Yet it hurt like heck. From the looks of it the rest of the flock were experiencing the same things.

"Nanobots" Nudge was barely able to get out before she screamed again. I starting brushing at the parts of mine and Angels skin that I could reach. But it was fruitless, it just made the pain worse. I saw Iggy's face contorted in anguish, suddenly his unseeing eyes burst open, his eyes were... glowing? Soon his entire body started glowing faintly and I could hear the crackle of electricity coming from Iggy. He had a layer of electricity over his skin! It didn't appear to hurt him, in fact he smiled. _Huh, can't he feel the nanobots? _I thought, then it hit me. The electricity must have shorted out the bot's systems.

I yelled for Iggy to try and get the bots off everyone else. He flew over to me and I shook my head, realizing he couldn't see it I said,

"Not me, others first" I could barely get out those four words before another scream ripped out of my throat. I watched as Iggy went over to Gazzy and touched his skin, causing the electricity field to transfer over to Gazzy as well. Gazzy smiled and told Iggy to help Nudge. Finally Iggy came back to me and offered to take Angel. I gladly gave her over. As Iggy's electricity went over Angel I felt an unbearable pain coming from my right shoulder. I looked down and almost gagged, the nanobots had found the scratch in my shoulder and were tearing it apart. Suddenly the pain was coming from _inside_ my arm, I shrieked in pain, Iggy reached out and caught my arm causing the pain to go away, but there was still a huge gash on my arm and I passed out from the pain.

_LiNe_BrEaK_

I slowly became aware that I was lying down on the rock earth. Eyes still shut I quickly did a self-assessment: head - check, torso - check, head - check, legs - check, wings - check, arms - crap. I was slowly and painfully beginning to feel my right shoulder and holy (insert swear word of choice here) did it hurt.

I lay on my rocky bed for a couple of minutes, analyzing my surroundings. I could hear Nudge yapping away, Iggy groaning every time Nudge started a new sentence. Gazzy was fiddling with some wires. I was pretty sure Dylan was off getting food since Nudge's ramblings were beginning to become constantly food related.

When Nudge finally stopped for air I heard a new voice.

"It's been 12 hours, when is she going to wake up?" said the Bane Of My Existence Part Un.

Okay so... WTH! Why is Fang here and not with his little band of Merry Mutants? Well it's not like I cared. All I knew is that I wanted to hurt him like he hurt me. And since I couldn't break his heart anymore I'd have to settle for breaking his bones.

I struggled to maintain my facade of unconsciousness and tried to pinpoint exactly where Fang was sitting. Even though Mr. Personality had sunk back into his usual silence after a short reassurance from Nudge, I could still hear him breathing, shifting and making other obnoxious sounds. My hearing might not be as good as Iggy's but it's still pretty dang good.

Minutes ticked by, it must have been five minutes before I knew exactly what I would do. Quick as a hummingbird (Haha birdkid humor for yah) I opened my eyes to retina searing light. But I ignored the blinding light and swung my fist straight into Fangs nose. I was rewarded by a satisfying crack of his bone before the pain in my shoulder caused me to black out - again. I remember my last conscious thought, _that butthead!_

**Hehe, not the kind of Fax most fangirls squeal about but still, Max and Fang TOGETHER! I actually wrote the part after the line break before anything else, I had the idea for the story but that was the first thing I actually wrote down.**

**ALSO thanks to ****Rayne The Hanyou ****for reviewing****. ****You rock!**


	14. Chapter thirteen

**I like pie, and sherbet, rainbow sherbet! This chapter is about what happened while Max was asleep.**  
**Disclaimer: 'nuf said**

Chapter 13

Fang swooped up and caught Max, glad she wasn't still holding Angel, and stared at the gash in her shoulder. It looked bad, like REALLY bad, but not bad enough to risk going to a hospital. Fang yelled out to the flock plus Dylan and Maya,

"Maya and I saw a cave on our flight here, you guys follow me, if we go back to the hotel we'll be seen and they'll just send more nanobots" it probably should have been Iggy leading the flock but leading was becoming a habit to Fang. Not a fun one though, too much talking. For the hundredth time Fang wondered why in heck Angel always wanted this job?

There wasn't any better suggestions though so the flock did big wheeling turns to face Fang who was already flying west, out onto the red, hot, desert.

~~~~~~~LiNeBrEaK~~~~~~~

The group all came to a dusty stop in a small cave that carved into the large red rock sitting in the middle of nowhere. It was a good spot for eight birdkids to rest, you couldn't see it from above or underneath, you had to be right in front of the entrance to see anything.

Fang had insisted on carrying Max the whole time, much to Dylan's annoyance, and he gently set Max's limp body onto the rocky earth. Another look at Max's shoulder and Fang wanted to hurl, growing up at the school not much could do that, but seeing Max's arm was absolutely disgusting. It was hollow around the gash where the nanobots had eaten her from the inside and the skin was tinged green and limp. The bots had absorbed most of the blood but her face was so pale, even a moron could tell she had lost a lot of blood. The gash itself spread almost 15 cm (**A/N I think that's 6 inches**) long and 5cm wide **(A/N again not sure, 2 inches?). **

Fang called Iggy over, the kid was like a human x-ray. His pale finger brushed across her arm and he cringed as he felt the hollow area.

"She looks pretty bad, you sure we shouldn't go to a hospital?" Iggy sounded really worried.

"And say what? Oh we were just researching zombies and then there were suddenly nanobots everywhere and then our mutant friend suddenly was able to-"

"Yah, I get it, no hospital" that was probably the first time someone had had to cut off Fang. But with Max so hurt it was hard to find anything funny.

"I've taught you well young one" leave it to Nudge to try to lighten the mood. But she was only rewarded by a wry smile from Fang.

They sat in awkward silence for at least an hour before Angel woke up from where she was lying in Gazzy's lap, screaming bloody murder.

'Shh, sweetie, it's ok we're here honey, everything's gonna be fine' Nudge reassured Angel as everyone rushed to her side, trying to help.

After about ten seconds, Angel stopped screaming and began crying and shuddering, drawing in shaking breathes. Gazzy's arms wrapped protectively around his little sister, Nudge ran her fingers through Angel's blonde hair whispering reassurances. Iggy reached out and grabbed her small hand in his large, pale one. The whole scene only made Fang miss the flock even more and he almost felt like crying, _almost_, but dude's don't die inside so he just went over and caught up with his siblings.

When Gazzy was about to finish telling Fang about how Max had punched Dylan on the plane, in front of the stewardess, Angel drew a final shuddering breath and said,

"Fang?"

"Yeah sweetie" even if she had predicted his death, then basically killed him, she was still like Fang's baby sister.

"Why were you thinking-"

"nothing Angel, I wasn't thinking _anything_" Fang cut Angel off before she could blurt out the many curses he had been thinking towards Dylan.

_Fang, why do you hate Dylan? _Angel put the thought in Fang's head.

_He replaced me, the little- wait crap, did you hear that? Um... he has nicer shoes than me?_ Fang tried to cover up his slip up as Angel started giggling,

"Since when did you care about shoes, and yes I did hear that" Angel said aloud, probably confusing everyone except Fang. He felt his usually impassive face tinged slightly pink and Gazzy burst out laughing,

"Fang, shoes, embarrassed!" the Gasman couldn't keep talking he was laughing so hard.

Fang shot an unamused look at Iggy who was rolling on the dirt floor, laughing so hard no sound was coming out and he was just sitting there clapping like a retarded seal. Yet another downside to Iggy being blind.

Trying to distract the flock, Fang said,

"Angel, what happened, we thought you were dead" this sobered everyone up quickly as they remembered the explosion and Angel's mangled shoe they had found in the rubble.

"I don't want to talk about it yet, but I will, I promise" Angel started shuddering again and buried her head into Gazzy's shoulder.

~~~~~~~LiNeBrEaK~~~~~~~

Ten agonizing hours of twenty questions, which was Angels favourite game for obvious reasons, Max started muttering in her slumber,

"No, no I won't, I don't care, too big a price, won't help you, we'll find other ways for Iggy to see" Max frowned in her sleep, her forehead creasing with stress. Iggy just sat there, unmoving, his mouth slightly open.

"This didn't happen, Max didn't tell us for a reason, she'll tell us when she is ready" Nudge finally declared after a few minutes of shocked silence. Everyone agreed.

"Well what does a girl have to do to get some food around here!" Nudge said eventually. Fang volunteered a grudging Dylan to go to the nearest town to buy food. Soon Nudge was ranting about who knows and Iggy was groaning every time Nudge started a new sentence. Gazzy was keeping watch with Angel near the mouth of the cave, he was showing Angel how to wire and de-wire a bomb in 60 seconds. As Nudge took a breath of air before she started another speech, Fang interrupted her,

"It's been 12 hours, when is she going to wake up?" When Nudge answered with her usual speech, Fang sunk into his usual silence and thought about their predicament. Five minutes of agonizing rambling from the Nudge Channel and Fang was ready to tie up her wings and push her off a cliff. Suddenly a fist flew out of nowhere and Max was lying on Fang's lap, her fist covered in blood from Fang's broken nose.

"What just happened?" Gazzy turned around when he heard the crack of Fang's nose.

"Oh, Max has just been plotting about how to hurt Fang for the last five or ten minutes, she settled on breaking his nose. Fang, she thinks you're a butthead," Angel said without even looking up from the ticking bomb in her fingers.

"And you just felt like telling us this now!" Fang said, rubbing his nose.

"What! You already know she thinks you're a butthead" Angel sounded confused.

"Not that! She's been conscious! And you didn't think of telling anyone!" Fang sounded angry, which was very unnatural to him, he usually kept his emotions under control.

"Well, she was plotting, I didn't want to ruin her plan" Angel said this like it was the most natural thing in the world.

**AND END! Suckish ending I know, OH WELL, SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP! **  
**"Would you please consider reviewing this chapter, please and thankyou" imagine I am saying that in a british accent. **


	15. Chapter fourteen

**Wow, two reviews in like two hours! Wow, I am in shock!**  
**Disclaiming in process ... BEEEEEP I renounce any claim on copyrighted material. **  
**To the chapter!**

Chapter 14

I wasn't sure how long I had been out but when I woke I could hear Fang and Angel arguing.

"And you just felt like telling us this now!" telling them what!

"What! You already know she thinks you're a butthead" that's my girl!

"Not that! She's been conscious! And you didn't think of telling anyone!" Fang sounded angry, it sounded weird.

"Well, she was plotting, I didn't want to ruin her plan" Angel is just so thoughtful!

_Aw thanks Max! _Angel put the thought in my head, _can I tell them you're awake?_

I sighed internally _I guess, I want to see Fangs nose, that was one of my finer punches!_

"Uh guys? She's awake now "

I slowly opened my eyes and wanted to close them again. I was in Fangs lap! He noticed my discomfort and just smiled. I narrowed my eyes at him and pushed myself off him, or rather I tried to, my right arm gave out and I screamed in pain. Fang caught me, bridal style and was about to sit me up against the cave wall when Dylan came in carrying bags of food. Instead of leaving me like a normal person he didn't let go and just sat there with me in his arms. Sadly because of my hollow arm I was unable to do anything about it so I just scowled and crossed my arms.

"So Iggy, electricity huh" I said, trying to ignore the person holding me.

"Yup, I'm gonna be able to set off so many bombs now, just point, zap, KABLOOM" Iggy couldn't see my disapproving look so he just went on about awesome his new power was.

"Ah, Iggy shut up! You sound like Nudge!" Dylan looked like he wanted to strangle Iggy. He wasn't alone.

I looked up and saw Fangs face. To the untrained eye he would seem impassive, bored, disinterested, but I knew him too well, he looked angry, not annoyed though.

"What is it?"I whispered so only Fang could hear. Ok Iggy probably could too but he was too busy discussing ignitions with Gazzy.

"Nothing" Fang sounded like he wanted me to drop it, like I cared.

"Spit it out or I tell everyone about the time in the E shaped house when I went into your room and you-"

"Fine! Just don't tell anyone about that"

"What? You mean your pink boxers? Oops it slipped, now tell me or it slips louder" Oh I am evil.

"Dylan, he just... arg I can't explain it, I think I liked it better when you were unconscious" Well, that was insulting.

"Way to put a damper on the mood" it really was my fault but blaming Fang was just so much more fun.

"Will you excuse me, I have to realign my nose." Way to play the blame game, Fang. I just want to say that I in no way regretted punching Fang, I was actually quite proud of it.

It was only then that Fang finally put me down, he then felt obliged to sit right next to me. When Dylan saw this he came over and sat right next to me, on my other side. I was sandwiched between the two people I wanted to be with the least right then.

By then I was finally able to stand up and pointedly made my way across the cave to sit between Nudge and Angel. As soon as I left, Fang and Dylan scooted away from each other, widening the gap between them, where I had lay.

~~IM A LINE BREAK!~~

Ever since Fang had left and Angel had died, or at least we thought she had, Nudge and I had sorta grown closer. We would sit up at night just talking. Nudge was a surprisingly good listener, when you let her be. We would discuss everything from the weather to the growing list of books that Nudge planned on reading once we got back to civilization. Tonight we talked about how I was going to save the world, kind of a heavy subject for a 15 and 12 year old to be discussing , but hey, that's our life.

"The DG are worse than Itex, they recruit people, humans that aren't right in their minds, I don't want to have to go through them, I don't want to hurt people any more than I have to." Before Fang left he would be the one I would tell this. But Fang left so sucks to be him.

"Hopefully we can just stop that, pull their biggest weapon out from under them, I have a feeling they're using some kind of software to control the zombies, I guess we just have to shut it down" Nudge gave really good advice; I wished we had begun doing this earlier.

"But we have so many other things to do, like saving Ella and my Mom and now I have to save the entire freaking world! Again!"

"Well, if there's one thing I learned at school that is of any importance, it's that you need to be organized."

"Yeah because me and my day planner are going to save the world." I mean seriously, how was this going to help? I take back what I said about Nudge giving good advice.

"You don't need a day planner! Just have a plan, what are we going to do next." I guessed Nudge could tell I didn't have any plan except stay alive.

"Any ideas?"

"Well, I think the next thing we should do is go find Ella. Then your Mom. Then we can save the world by stopping the DG from making zombies. It's not the hard Max " Wow she sounded older than 12, definitely older than me.

"Looks like we're going back to the good ol' United States" I looked down and saw Nudge asleep, snoring slightly. How glamorous.

I stroked her soft brown curls of hair and thought about what she had said to me.

_~Find Ella_

_~Find Mom_

_~Stop the doomsday group_

It was only three things but each seemed impossible.

With these thoughts swirling through my head I lay down and slipped into a dreamless slumber.

**A/N That's all for now folks! Thanks to ****AnikaandAj and **** for the AWESOME reviews! Reviews are epic, my email is pretty much my new favourite place.**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**A/N: I do NOT own Maximum Ride. Wow that was boring, I need to think of more ways to disclaim!**

Chapter 15

The next morning I woke to the sound of Fang's voice. Romantic right? Not.

"Up and at 'em! It's a new day, get up and face it!" A loud Fang? I thought the world was going to implode.

I groggily opened my eyes and saw the Flock actually obeying him! That woke me right up.

"Okay, if anyone moves so much a hair I will personally snap your wings and throw you out of this cave!" I leaped up and walked up to where Fang was calmly getting breakfast ready, beside a frozen Iggy.

"I said freeze birdboy." I growled in Fangs mutated ear.

"Since when are you my Mother?"

"Okay mister, let's get this straight. _I_ am the leader. _You_ are an uninvited guest. You let me do my thing and you won't be 'flock splatter art'. So either you shut the heck up or we're having Fangcake for breakfast."

This was my turf Fang was treading on and he knew it. He gently placed down the travel frying pan and backed up, hands by his shoulders. Unluckily for him, he forgot to look down and tripped backwards over a stray backpack and landed on his butt.

I couldn't help it. I cracked up. The look on his face was priceless! Soon everyone except Fang was laughing their butts off. Gazzy and Angel were literally rolling on the cave floor laughing.

Fang just glared at each of us in turn. I swear his glare could kill a baby bunny. But I just glared right back into his deep, obsidian eyes. If his glare could kill a baby bunny, mine could kill a whole family of bunnies. He stood up, dusted off his pants and jumped out of the cave opening. His raven-like wings whipped out, he caught an updraft and soared out of sight.

I heard a cough from Iggy. "He did _not_ just pull a Max?"

"Oh I'm afraid he did." Nudge shook her head, suppressing giggles.

"What are you guys talking about?" They were treading on thin ice aka me. And I was about to crack.

"Well whenever something bad happens you run away. It's like when you and Fang first kissed, and the next time and-" I looked pointedly at Angel.

"I do _not _always run away!"

"Uh yes you do." I was surprised Nudge was getting involved. She had always been there for me. But I don't think they realized how much the concept of running away caused a huge lump to form in my stomach.

I just brushed it off and gave Iggy the frying pan. This morning was not off to a good start.

~~~HEY IMA LINE BREAK FROM OUTERSPACE!~~~

When Fang finally got his sorry emo butt back to the cave, we were all packed up and ready to leave. We had all agreed that we should go and regroup at the hotel then take a plane back to the states.

As soon as Fang's black vans touched the cave dirt, seven winged mutants rushed past him and leapt into the clear blue sky. I was last and as I ran by him, I 'accidentally' kicked off his shoulder before launching into the brisk morning air.

We packed up our few possessions as soon as we got back. When we each had filled our backpacks we went down a floor to where Fang and Maya were staying. Don't ask me why we were meeting in _their_ room. I guess the Maxocracy had been overthrown.

As we neared room 234 I could hear more than two voices.

"Could you have picked a grosser hotel?"

"Hey, Katie? Toss me the Doritos would ya?"

"Get off your lazy butt and do it yourself!"

"STARFISH RULE!"

Don't ask me why they were discussing aquatic life. I have absolutely no idea.

"Hey, gang! Long-time no see! Or so to speak." Iggy burst through the unlocked door.

"Hey, Igster! Could you toss me those Doritos? Three o'clock." Ratchet instructed Iggy on where the chips lay.

I was astonished. The Flock sat down and started talking like old friends. I just stood, frozen in the doorway. Even Dylan stepped past me and plopped himself down on the nearest bed.

Fang cleared his throat and gestured for me to speak. Don't ask me why I followed his advice. This morning was full of the unexplained. It was like an episode of Ghostbusters.

"Hey! Flock! Gang! Over here!" I waved my hands. "I assume Fang has informed you on our most recent exploits."

Iggy snickered. "Yes Max, we did a lot of _exploiting. _You do realise how dirty that sounds right?"

"Yes, we're pretty caught up to date. What's next?" Star said, wisely ignoring Iggy and Ratchet's coughing.

"Well, the next step, for the Flock at least, is to go back to the states and rescue Ella."

"Who's Ella?"

"My sister. She... she ran away. She wanted wings like us. We think she went to the mutant school." I was infuriated to find my voice shaking. "You guys don't have to come with us, but we can use all the help we can get."

"Max sweetie, we're a team whether you and Fang like it or not." Kate spoke from where she was lying, with the laptop on her stomach.

"Thanks Kate." I shot her a weak smile.

~~~~~My name is fred and I'm a line break~~~~~~~

I pulled Nudge from where she was staring at the fashion blog on Kate's screen and brought her into the adjoining bathroom.

"Why are you guys so friendly?"

"Promise not to get mad?"

"Promise."

"We've kept touch since Paris. Video calls, emails, texts etc."

"What? Really?"

"Max, you promised you wouldn't get mad!"

"I'm not mad." Take deep breaths. Count to ten. Sing Hakuna Matata.

"Okay! Well Kate was showing me something, can I go back now?"

"Yeah, sure."

I sat down on the edge of the enormous tub and watched as Nudge walked out the door, away from me. I just hung my head and listened as she closed the door behind her.

Holy crap my life sounds like a sappy, drama filled show. I miss back when it was adventure/sci-fi. But hey, I'm a teenage girl not a jedi knight.

Eventually I tore myself away from my tiled sanctuary and plunked myself beside Dylan.

"You ok?" I guessed I looked worse than I had guessed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Not used to change I guess."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Guess."

"Nope."

"You must be psychic! Or is it psychotic? " I shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Obviously I'm psychotic!" He glanced at Fang, who had been looking in our direction, and slung his arm around my shoulders.

For some reason I felt uncomfortable. I never had before, remember that night in the desert? Not uncomfortable. Beating him up on top of that tree? Nope! When he committed attempted suicide? It was weird, but not uncomfortable. I could feel Fangs eye trained on Dylan's hand on my shoulder.

I wriggled free and stood up.

"Okay guys, pack up! Next stop, the U.S.A!"

**A/N: Drama! I miss the first three books :'( You know, when it was actually sci-fi.**

**THANK YOU to ** Rayne The Hanyou **and **AnikaandAj**! You guys rock! **

**Okay I'm going to sound like such a noob. Here it goes- Can anyone tell me what ooc means? I get the jist - WAIT I JUST THOUGHT, DOES IT MEAN OUT OF CHARACTER? Wow I'm an idiot! I seriously realized that as I was typing that sentence. *sigh***


	17. Chapter sixteen

**A/N: So life huh?**  
**I do not own Maximum Ride... or Red Bull. I do however own this computer. Jk this is my Dad's computer. Although I did buy a new shirt a few days ago. **  
**This chapter is dedicated to katerinagrey for getting me off my lazy butt and making me write this. For about two weeks I had a solid excuse (finals and camping). But other than that I've just been drawing fanart and neglecting 'The Last Flight'. I'm sorry, and tired, and in the middle of a bad writer's block. Writers blocks suck... immensely. So please forgive me if this all comes out funny.**

Chapter 16

I won't even bother describing the plane flight. We got on the plane, then we got off. Shablam. I even got to sit in the window seat. Lucky me. But hey, in my books boring means safe.

Once we arrived at our destination (New York), we were able to rent a hotel room and crash until morning. Lucky for us there was a starbucks next door. Unlucky for me I slept in and didn't get up until everyone else was ready for breakfast. Everyone except Fang that is. I guess he slept in too cause as I was brushing my teeth sleepily, Fang burst in muttering. "Late, late, crap, gotta hurry."

"Hello?" I said with my usual amount of sarcasm.

"MAX!" I swear he jumped at least three feet in the air.

"No, it's her evil clone you birdbrain!"

"Maya? Don't call yourself evil sweetie, yo-"

"SWEETIE?"

"Yes, why are you using Max's toothbrush?"

"Cause I am Max you idiot!"

"Wha'?"

"Evil clone is an expression."

"Oh..."

"Sweetie?"

"Yeah..."

I decided I had brushed long enough and spit into the sink.

"Flock, Gang, listen up! I'm going to give Kate my credit card and you guys are going to get breakfast from starbucks. Fang and I will stay behind, pack us up and arrange our next flight."

"I'll help too!" Dylan came over and grabbed my hand.

"Uh, it's okay Dylan. I'm a big girl now." I tried to shake his hand off but his steel grip had my hand trapped for good.

"Bu-."

"Why don't you go help Maya, she looked a little lost." I was pleasantly surprised to feel Dylan's muscular hand drop mine and his head swivel to where Maya was sitting. Pleasantly surprised, yet oddly disturbed.

As Nudge went out the door I could feel my eyelids drooping. "Hey! Nudge, get me the largest, most caffeinated drink they have."

"Looks like it's red bull for breakfast- again." I could hear Nudge murmur to Iggy as they walked out the door.

~linebreak~

Fang was packing up and I was in the adjoining bedroom getting changed. All good right? Not. With the whole 'impending doom' thing I had totally forgotten my shirt! And I'm no wimp, I had no qualms about going out to get my shirt in my bra. But I forgotten that too. So much for the 'advanced human intelligence' huh?

"Uh... Fang?"

"Yes?" I practically see the awkwardness from earlier.

"I forgot something."

"So get it yourself."

"I forgot my shirt."

"So?"

"... I forgot my... bra too." I know, Miss kick-butt-save-the-world Maximum Ride not able to talk about bras. Crazy right? In my defence bras are a lot different than bloodthirsty erasers.

"Oh."

"So, you gonna grab that for me?"

I could hear him heave an exasperated sigh. "What bag?"

"The red one."

A few seconds later I heard a light tap on the door. "Here." Fang shoved my shirt encased bra through the barely opened door.

It was right then I realized what would happen if Iggy or Gazzy found out about this. So I did what any rational fifteen year old mutant would do. I blindly reached out into the hallway and found the neckline of Fangs shirt, lifted him up a good five inches in the air and hissed. "If you ever mention this anyone, and I mean anyone Fang, I will personally make sure you are unable to reproduce." Then I dropped him and slammed the door shut. And of course right then I realized I could have just wrapped myself in a blanket to go get my clothes.

~Line break~

We were at the service desk at the New York City Airport waiting in the infinite line of tired travellers. All I had heard for the past half an hour was "Max, I have to go to the bathroom!" "Max, I'm thirsty!" "Max, my feet are sore!" "Max, I have to pee!" "Max, why is everyone so slow?" "Max, now I'm hungry and thirsty!" I would enlighten you with more of those wonderful quotes but my nerves were so short by then I just made a strangled screaming noise and ducked out of line.

By the time I got back we were only one person away from the front of the line. Even then we had to wait for ten minutes for the family of ten in front of us to sort out some lost luggage. When we finally reached the front and I was halfway through the transaction the airport worker. Let's call her Margret. Well Margret just had to get nosy.

"How old are you? You don't look old enough to be traveling without special arrangements." Margret looked at us over her half-moon spectacles.

Of course I had nothing prepared, just how this day was going. But then to top it all off Dylan stepped forward.

"This is my new wife, Maxine. We're both twenty one. Our wedding was yesterday and now we're heading home for the reception. Maxine's sister-" He pointed to Maya. "And her fiancé, as well as other assorted siblings are accompanying us." He reached back and ruffled Gazzy's hair.

It took all my effort to sling my arm around my 'Husband' and smile like I had just gotten married. Lucky for us all Margret did was mutter a congratulations and hand us our tickets.

Once we had gotten passed by security we all burst out laughing.

"I swear all she did was glare at me! I really wanted to be all 'Hey! I'm adopted okay!' " Nudge chortled.

"Are you saying we don't look related?" Iggy said and held his pale arm next to Nudge's cocoa one.

Plane 206 departing at gate 4

"Come on guys, we don't want to miss the reception!" Fang led the flock/gang/Dylan towards gate four. Which I have to say bothered me... a lot.

**A/N: Sorry it's short :/. The writer's block seems to be pretty stuck. Also yeah it's a filler, but I love me them fillers! So let's give it up for awkward Fax!**

**A HUGE thank you to katerinagrey for being my ONLY reviewer in like a month! Come on guys step it up! Favourite, review, subscribe, I just like to know that people are reading my stuff! Also this long break is proof that reviews help me write faster. **

**Sorry, I'm done ranting. Bye!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**A/N: Hi again. So I know I took a LOOOOOONG break between the last two chapters but I promise that won't happen any time soon. I do not blame in any way shape or form if you have completely forgotten what this story is about. **  
**So I'm actually camping right now. No internet... gasp... can't... breathe. But I'm having TryNotToRunAway post this for me. THANK YOU!. Oh yeah I almost forgot I DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE!**

Chapter 17

Ella pov

I was meant to have wings.

That was what I told Max.

That was what I told Dr. Hall.

That was what I told the surgeon.

Now I want to take it all back.

But unlike a sweater that looked better on your friend, you can't return a pair of honking huge wings.

But here at the School we don't complain. We are the new generation. We are generation seventy eight.

We will survive.

Every day a war goes on in my head.

_Bust out, find Max._

_Stay here, live._

_Be free, find Mom._

_Stay confined, stay safe._

But the School is winning.

~Line break~

Our mornings start at 7:30 am sharp. If you are late you spend a night in the room.

For breakfast we eat very little. We were engineered without the need for food, without that flaw that weighs down earlier generations. If you eat too much you spend a night in the room.

Then we train. I fly. I fight. I learn. And if I make a single mistake I spend a night in the room.

We don't need lunch. It is unnecessary and will weigh us down.

Then we train. But in the afternoon we train outside. Vitamin D strengthens us. Most of this is target practise. If you miss you spend a night in the room.

We each get one protein bar for dinner. If you eat more or less you spend a night in the room.

After dinner is testing. We take what we learn and we apply. In the room. If we lose we spend a whole night there.

Then we rest for the next day.

The only thing that keeps me going is Max. Even though she is the reason I'm here.

Seeing her wings. Her flying, with the flock, to save Mom, away. Every time I saw her wings spread out, her muscles bunch, her toes leave the ground behind. A little tear in me would rip a bit more. That night in the desert, seeing her lie there with her wings spread out behind her the tear ripped me apart. It was like the dam I had built up just collapsed. And I broke. I scrawled my message in the red dirt and walked away. It felt so good to just walk away from her for a change. Instead of the other way around. It was my turn to tear her up inside.

But now, here, I think of her bravery, her loyalty, her love. It strengthens me. It keeps me alive. I think if I didn't have her I might of collapsed when I woke up after the surgery and opened my wings.

Even thinking about her is risky. If they find out I'm as good as dead. I need to act brainwashed. I need to be a zombie. I need to live.

~Line break~

The night I walked up to the door was the most terrifying moment of my life.

I reached up to knock on the door and was immediately surrounded by eyeless mutants. I put my arms up to show surrender. Feeling a gun prod my back I tripped through the now open door. I walked shakily until we arrived at an office where I was shoved inside. Inside the office there was a red plastic chair. Across from the chair was a huge mahogany desk. The only thing on it was a closed laptop and a name card reading Dr. Hall.

"Hello?" My voice echoed around the office even though it could only be ten feet long, at most.

Almost immediately a hidden door behind the desk slid open and a tall, skinny man on sitting on a chair came sliding in. His hair was a light blonde and fell around his eyes in a cut that reminded me of Fang. In fact he didn't look much older than Fang, probably twenty five at the most. His brown eyes looked me up and down, as if to gauge how much of a threat I posed to him. Obviously I was no threat, just your average thirteen year old girl. I was kind of scrawny and tall, my golden brown hair up in a ponytail, my usually tan skin pale from fright. He seemed to approve and nodded for me to speak.

"My, name is Ella Martinez. I- I want wings. My sister, Max, she has them and I need them. I want to help her. I was meant to have wings, I just know it." My fingers were clenched so hard I was going to have nail shaped cuts where my finger nails were digging into my palms.

"Max? As in Maximum Ride?" His voice was silky and made me calm. My fingers unclenched and my eyebrows unfurrowed.

"Yes, Maximum Ride is my half sister." I had no idea why this mattered.

"Of course we will give you wings Ella. Just follow me." Surprised by how easy that was I followed the Doctor through another mysterious door.

"Just sit here. The surgeon will be here shortly." He gestured to a chair that resembled a dentist's chair.

When I sat metal cuffs strapped my wrists and ankles down. That was my first clue that something was wrong.

As the back of the chair lowered I could see a female version of Dr. Hall enter holding a needle filled with blue liquid.

My eyes grew big as she injected it into my arm. The last thing I remember is the scalpel coming toward me before I blacked out.

I woke screaming. As soon as I shut up I scanned the room. I was alone.

"Stand up." A voice instructed me.

I stood.

"Open your wings." The voice was coming from a speaker on the ceiling.

I opened my wings.

"Go back to sleep."

I collapsed.

The next morning I was on time.

I ate just enough.

I didn't make any mistakes.

I didn't miss.

I ate one bar, no more, no less.

In testing I lost.

I Lost.

Lost.

That night the eyeless mutants shoved me back into the room. Dr. Hall handed me a cup of green liquid and motioned for me to drink it.

I gulped it down and waited for the rush I had felt earlier. But it didn't come like before. Like instead of having a bucket of water dumped one you, having a tsunami wave crash on you. It felt like I was falling down at speeds even Max couldn't have achieved. After five seconds I barfed and the feeling stopped.

I stared into the Doctor's red eyes and pleaded. "No more." That was all I could say before a door opened behind and he stepped through, bringing the light with him. I ran up to where the door closed and tried to pound on the door but there was nothing there.

Somewhere behind me there was a low growl. Slowly, I turned around and looked into the endless black. Out of the abyss a pair of glowing green eyes came into focus.

You know how I said that when I knocked on the school's door, that was the most terrifying moment? It wasn't, the night I spent in the Room was.

Every time I screamed I felt an electric shock run through my body.

In the morning they found me curled in the fetal position muttering about pretty birds.

Now I don't lose.

Now I win.

**A/N: Woah, well that was creepy. It was pretty much the opposite of the last chapter :/ Although it was necessary for plot and character development. **

**Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review! :D**

**Thanks to AnikaandAj and TryNotToRunAway for reviewing, y'all rock big time.**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**YES! THE INTERNET! So yeah, camping was fun except for the whole no wifi thing. **  
**Also to make it clear I love Ella. **  
**I know some of you don't and hey, that's cool. But I like her despite of the creep I made of her in the last chapter. Just fyi.**  
**You know what this is? It's a disclaimer. You're welcome lawyers of the world. **

Chapter 18

Nudge pov

When we finally stumbled into the Martinez's abandoned house at three-am nobody did much except curse airport security or fall onto an exhausted heap on the floor. Most of us did both.

The morning came too soon. At the butt-crack of dawn Max was shaking my shoulder and yelling in my ear. "UP AN' AT EM!" I took all of my little self control not to slug our beloved leader in the nose. If you can't tell, I am not the most kind person in the morning. I'm as sarcastic as Max, as angsty as Fang, and about as evil as psychopathic Angel. Luckily I'm usually myself by ten. Which was when Max finally had us all out the door and trudging towards the 'Roco Laurie School for the Gifted'. I had no idea what her plan was but by the glint in her eyes I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

Apparently her plan included completely avoiding Fang. I mean I totally sympathized with the whole 'he left me, what ever shall I do?' thing she had going on but today she was taking it a little far. I even saw her duck behind a rock when Fang went by, talking to Maya. Wait- Fang, talking? This morning was _weird_, even for us.

You guys probably know this but usually we are sneaky when we break in and I mean Fang worthy ninja-level sneaky. So you can probably guess how surprised we all were when Max just walked through the jellyfish razor strings and up to the front door.

"Hello?" She yelled, hoping to get someone's attention I guess.

IDENTIFY YOURSELF

"Maximum Ride." The laser gun that had popped out turned towards us. "And guests."

ENTRY GRANTED

The gun slid away and the titanium doors clanged open.

"After you." Max gestured for us to enter.

~Line break~

As soon as we were all inside the doors slammed shut. "I don't have a good feeling about this Max." I murmured.

"I guess the feeling's mutual."

After about a minute of wandering around aimlessly we were met by a tall, skinny man with blonde hair that fell around his red eyes. Other than the vampire iris thing he was HOT, and I mean hollister catalogue ready h-a-w-t hot. Although he was like twice my age, creepy. Well Mr. Vampire-Model led us to a small office containing one red plastic chair, a desk and a comfy looking leather chair. Being the lazy pig that I am I sat down in the red chair.

Immediately tears started to fill my eyes. Max noticed and squeezed my shoulder but strangely all I could feel towards her was hate. Eventually I was able to choke out. "Ella... was... here." And then I broke down sobbing. Smooth right? An arm slid around my shoulders and pulled me to a standing position. As soon as I lost contact with the chair the tears ebbed and my shudders became whimpers. I looked up expecting to see Max but instead of her freckled, war hardened face, I saw Fang, his obsidian eyes full of worry. I whipped my head around, looking for Max. Her face full of shock she reached out and took me from Fang.

"What about Ella?"

I was about to answer but was cut off by Mr. Vampire-Model. "So who do we have here?" Shivers went up my spine, his voice sounded exactly like an eraser's.

Max steeled herself and stepped forward. "That, happens to be classified under none of your business."

"Oh but Miss Ride, if you ever want to see you sister again you will cooperate." He said with the creepiest smile plastered on his picture perfect face.

Slowly everyone introduced themselves.

Dr. Creepy smiled and pointed to a section wall that slid away to reveal a dank, ominous hallway. Max just rolled her eyes and stalked in. The whole time a little voice in my head was going: "it's a trap!" over and over. And it probably was.

~Line break~

"So... Ella?" Max whispered as we walked along.

"She sat in that chair about two weeks ago, she was upset and mad at you. She hasn't been in this hallway." I told her all that I had been able to gather with my emotion-sensor-power-thing.

"So where are we going?" Max murmured almost to herself.

"A lab." I said matter a factly.

"WHAT?" Max's shriek echoed up and down the hallway.

"I dunno, ask Angel." I shrunk back and pushed Angel up.

"Where. is. Ella?" Max was fuming.

"She's here, down this hallway, take a right and then down a secret stairway to your left. But I'm not too sure you want to see her right now."

"Of course I want to see her! She's my sister!"

"Okay, but she sure doesn't want to see you."

"Huh?"

"You know, just your run-of-the-mill brainwashing."

Max just huffed and stalked over to where Mr. Vampire was leading the way. "Thank you for your help sir but it is no longer needed." Then Max reached up and grabbed his pressure point and caused him to pass out.

"Score!" Ratchet reached down and swiped his key-card.

Just as Angel has said we took a right and soon found where the 'secret' stairway was. Max was about to step through when Fang reached out and grabbed her shoulder. As soon as Max had backed up Fang took a gum wrapper out of his pocket and tossed it at the door way. As soon as it crossed over there was a hissing and the wrapper burst into flames.

Ratchet rolled his eyes and stepped forward. He inserted the key-card into a teensy tiny slit beside the door. "All good. Ladies first." He gestured for Star to take the lead but Max just stalked down heedless to Ratchet's sigh of frustration.

At the bottom of the stairs was a huge gymnasium full of the widest assortment of mutants training. At least that's what I assumed they were doing. There was a lot of sparring and working out. Take away the fins, claws etc. and it looked almost like a gym class for the athletically gifted.

"Blend in, try and find Ella"

I took Max's instructions and went over to the nearest sparing mat. After a couple seconds of scanning the fighters I was pushed in the ring. "Your turn, newbie."

I tried to get out but couldn't do so without making too much of scene, so I got ready to fight. I turned to see my opponent. And almost jumped ten feet high. It was Ella.

"Hello Nudge, liking our facility?" Then she struck.

Her fist was fast, if I hadn't been expecting a fight her fist would have put a hole through my stomach. As it was she grazed my side. This time she kicked, but I was ready. I reached down and grabbed her foot and brought it over my shoulder. "MAX! MA-" I was cut off by Ella's other floor nailing my in the gut.

"Max. Is. Here?" At every word Ella kicked me again.

"Yup. Looking for you. You little traitor." I hissed through gritted teeth. I wondered what kind of crazy steroids they had pumped into her.

"ELLA!" Max burst through the circle, surrounding us. She managed to get her arms around her for a hug but was tossed off like a rag doll.

"You are why I'm here. Get out of my sight." Ella spat, her voice filled with contempt.

"You're coming with us Ella." Everyone in the gang/flock/Dylan stepped onto the mat and circled Ella. I thought she was going to try and fight us, until she saw Iggy.

"C'mon Ella, we're busting you out." Iggy extended his arm. Ella reached up and took his hand.

~Line break~

I'll spare you the whole breakout thing Max does. It was pretty uniform. Kick, punch, make sarcastic remarks. The usual. All that matters was that we got out. We made it almost to the jellyfish protector when we heard a voice.

"Maximum?" Don't ask me why but I turned to see out pursuer. The crazy thing was that I recognized her. She had long, blonde hair. Piercing green eyes and wings.

She was the birdgirl from the sewers in New York.

**A/N: I'm gonna be gone, out of wifi range for the next week and a half. *sobs* Sorry.**  
**Any suggestions on what kind of wings Ella should have? Like parrot or butterfly? I don't know, my 'creative juices' are gone. **

**I'M SOOOO PSYCHED FOR NEVERMORE!**

**Thank you to ****VioletEyes14****, Skatzaa, ****AnikaandAj,****TryNotToRunAway**** and ****katerinagrey ****for the reviews!**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**A/n: Sorry about the typos in the last chapter, I uploaded it about fifteen minutes before we left on a 16 hour car ride.**  
**Okay I'm getting really sick of disclaiming this so consider this disclaimer to disclaim for the rest of the story.**  
**Me no own Maximum Ride.**

Chapter 19

Max's pov

For the past year and a half it felt like my life had been controlled by a remote with only one button, 'repeat'.

You know, break into evil-top-secret facilities, rescue someone, save the world. Rinse and repeat.

So I have to admit I was pretty dang surprised when, as we were getting the heck out of that place I heard a familiar voice.

"Maximum."

When I turned around there was a girl with long, bleach blonde hair. Her emerald green eyes were piercing. And oh yeah, she had wings.

It was the birdgirl from the sewers in New York.

"Yes?" I said testily.

"I have something that can help you." She held up some important looking files.

"So hand 'em over!" My patience level was ziltch.

"Promise me something."

"Ugh. What?"

"Let me come with you, I want to be somewhere away from those sick white-coats."

We didn't have much time. I was surprised she was the only one who had caught up to us.

"Fine. Hurry up."

With that I turned and ran, the flock/gang/Dylan/birdgirl hot on my heels.

~~~

We ran for about four hours, about 90 miles in all. I made everyone stop when we reached a small forest, perfect for a campout.

When we got a small fire started I sat down next to Ella. I thought back to at the school when she had pushed me away. "You are why I'm here. Get out of my sight." More than any injury I've ever suffered, including those coma inducing brain attacks I'd had at first, that hurt. Her voice had been so filled with hate, her eyes steeled. Physical pain fades but that image of Ella, disgusted to even see me will be forever burned into my mind.

After about ten minutes we sunk into an awkward silence. Okay so Nudge was yapping, but she doesn't really count.

Finally I asked to question that had been weighing most heavily on my mind. "So, Ella? Did... did they give you w-wings?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "Duh, why do you think I went there in the first place?" She took off her hoodie and shook her shoulders.

Her wings unfolded, there was an audible gasp from pretty much everyone other than Fang. Even Nudge stopped her babbling to stare at Ella's wings.

Outstretched behind her were wings like I had never seen before. There was no easy way of putting it, she had insect wings. The sunlight glistened off them, sending rainbows all over.

"What the heck is going on? So the girl has wings, so do I! What color are they?" Iggy reached out to feel Ella's wings. His pale eyes widened as soon as his slender fingers made contact with them. "Oh."

"It was dragon-fly dna they used." Ella flapped her wings and lifted a foot off the ground.

"All that matters is that you're safe." I turned to look at Angel and whispered. "Is she brainwashed?"

"Not that I can tell, she's just been through a lot lately."

"I can hear you!" Ella glared at me.

"Must have been a LOT."

~~~

Eventually we went back to the house. Out of habit I did a headcount. Only then did I remember the birdgirl. She was sitting in a corner, clutching the files in her arms.

I grabbed them and went to sit by myself in the living room.

The first file I looked at appeared to be a birth certificate. The name read 'Nicholas Black'. I was confused why I would want to see some random guy's birth certificate. Until I saw the picture that is. It was a wallet sized photo of mini-Fang.

"FANG! GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!"

Fang actually obeyed me for once and sat down next to me.

"Check it out." I handed him what I thought was his birth certificate, as well as the attached documents. After Fang had read through everything he just sat there, staring at the photo. Finally the silence was too much to bear. "Soooo?"

Fang sighed and handed me the papers. "Read them yourself."

Turns out 'Nicholas Black' was born on October 19, 1995 to Julia and Michael Black. He lived in New Hampshire until he was kidnapped 4 months later. After that it was all scientific gobbledegook, all I could understand was that he had been 'given' raven dna.

"Dude! You're sixteen!" I elbowed Fang in the ribs. "Let's go get you a driver's license!"

Wordlessly Fang pointed to the last page.

NICHOLAS BLACK- RESULTS

_Tumors- negative_

_Pneumonia- negative_

_Influenza- negative_

_H8T- positive _

_H1N1- negative_

_Multiple sclerosis- negative_

The list went on listing various other illness' but the only one Fang had tested positive for was H8T, whatever that was.

_H8T is an experimental virus created in Itex lab #16, otherwise known as 'The School'. It causes the recipient's insides to liquefy along with other dangerous side effects._

_Julia Black was given this virus the same time the amniocentesis was performed. Lab #16 agreed to cure Nicholas on the condition that they would be allowed to experiment on him as well. Julia and Michael refused to give up Nicholas when Dr. Batchelder went to retrieve him. Itex retrieved the experiment later that night._

So in short Fang was given a deadly disease so his parents would give him to Itex. But they refused to give him up so he was kidnapped.

"What a horrible beginning." I really meant it too. We all knew we had bad pasts, but seeing it in black and white like this. Like it was an experiment, not a human life. It hurt.

"I wasn't a kid to them, I was an experiment, a variable in their sick science lab."

"At least you know you have parents." I said, trying to cheer Fang up. "And your Mom wasn't a druggy like we thought." This didn't have exactly the desired effect.

"Cause that turned out so well for Iggy. Just show everyone else their papers."

It hadn't occurred to me that we might have records too. I checked and sure enough, we each had a stack of papers.

I'll save you the boring details but here is what we figured out eventually.

Iggy- James Griffiths. (15 years)

Nudge- Monique Levesque. (12 years)

Gazzy- Ryan Salen. (10 years)

Angel- Emma Salen. (7 years)

There was a lot of "YEAH! I'm older, I'm older!" and "I knew it!" 's going on.

Finally I grabbed the second last stack and read:

_'Sophia Batchelder-Martinez'_

_Born November 15, 1995._

"WHAT?!" My screech was louder than the excited flock- which is a big deal, trust me. Six genetically modified heads turned to look at me.

Angel, who has read my thoughts, burst out laughing. "Sophia-" giggle, "- is younger than-" giggle, "- Nicholas!" Then she fell over and was literally rolling on the floor laughing. Why this was so funny was beyond me.

All the sudden everyone was laughing, even Fang.

I stalked over to where Fang was chuckling. "It's only by a month, and don't forget I can still kick your butt!"

As I turned to go back and read the last papers, I heard Fang. "You sure about that Maxie?"

My fists clenched and I turned to see Fang holding his hands up in surrender and Gazzy unable to breath, he was laughing so hard.

Suddenly my fists unclenched and my scowl turned into a grin. I looked at Gazzy and raised my eyebrows. Gazzy was smart enough to look scared and tried to get away from me. I ran and grabbed him around his middle and started tickling him mercilessly, despite his cries of surrender. Soon there was a full-fledged tickle war going on.

In the middle of the chaos I grinned.

It was like old times again.

**A/n: I am soooo sorry I took so long to update! I don't even have a good excuse. SORRY!**  
**I read Nevermore adsjkljfjal!**  
**Thanks to VioletEyes14 and Skatzaa for the wonderful reviews!**


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